Return of the recall: Group restarts effort to vote state Sen. Brittany Pettersen out of office

An attempt to recall state Sen. Brittany Pettersen, D-Lakewood, is back just days after supporters withdrew their initial petition because of an error on the recall statement.

The Colorado Secretary of State’s Office approved the new petition Thursday morning. The organizers now have 60 days — until Sept. 16 — to gather at least 18,376 valid signatures from registered voters in Senate District 22.

Any signatures for the first Pettersen recall petition won’t count.

Republican Nancy Pallozzi, a Colorado native who unsuccessfully ran against Pettersen in 2016, is leading the recall campaign.

According to her new filing with the secretary of state, Pettersen should be removed from office because of her votes on paid family leave, sex education, oil and gas reform, and a new red-flag law that would let law enforcement confiscate firearms from people deemed to be a danger to themselves or others.

Pettersen isn’t the only state lawmaker facing a recall for those reasons. Another group is targeting Sen. Pete Lee, D-Colorado Springs. And the Rocky Mountain Gun Owners tried and failed to gather enough signatures to recall Rep. Tom Sullivan, D-Centennial.

“It’s embarrassingly obvious sour grapes,” said Colorado Democratic Party chair Morgan Carroll.

Neither Lee nor Pettersen hid their opinions on issues such as paid family leave or gun control during the 2018 election, Carroll continued. A state lawmaker taking a vote that members of the opposition party don’t like shouldn’t be the basis for removing someone from office.

“They think it’s easier and cheaper to win a recall election than to win fair and square,” Carroll said. “This is overthrowing a legitimate election for no good reason.”